After a near miss Friday night, with Elbert County coming back from an 11-point deficit to defeat the Panthers 25-23 at the Granite Bowl, Jackson County is looking to try to put their second win of the season on the board this Friday, as they play host to the Oconee County Warriors.

Oconee County may prove to be the Panthers’ best chance to add another notch in the win column. The Warriors are in the midst of a three-game losing streak, having lost last week to Eastside 49-7.

They enter Friday night’s contest with a 2-3 region record, and 2-6 overall.

Side-by-side, the advantages that Jackson County has over Oconee County become more apparent, as do the areas where the teams are more closely matched.

The Panthers would appear to have the stronger defensive line of the two, having allowed 202 points to be scored against them this year to North Oconee’s 254, an average of 25.3 points per game for Jackson County to the Warriors’ 31.8.

But the Oconee County offense would appear to have the advantage going into Friday night, having scored 164 points to the Panthers’ 71, an 20.5 points per game average to 8.9 for Jackson County.

But those odds may be even for the Panthers, whose strong defense has proved formidable several times this season.

Kickoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Friday night.

Elbert County

Things appeared to be going the Panthers’ way early on in Friday night’s game at the Granite Bowl.

Jackson County came out swinging, and took advantage of problems by the Blue Devils’ special teams to build up a 17-6 lead going into the half.

Two of the Panthers’ touchdowns came from Marquice Gillespie, who scored on a 95-yard kickoff return and on a 45-yard return after a blocked punt.

The Blue Devils didn’t take kindly to being shown up in front of their home town fans, and came out in the third quarter looking to make up ground. By the end of the third period, they had moved out to an 18-17 lead, and the Panthers had to make up ground.

In the fourth quarter, Elbert County broke into the end zone again, pushing the score to 25-17, but Jackson County refused to give up with just four minutes left on the clock.

With less than a minute remaining on the clock, a touchdown pass from Alex Crawford to Ryan Howe from nine yards moved the Panthers to within two. But a big stop on Gillespie on a two-yard attempt less than a yard out ended the Panthers’ attempt at a come from behind victory.

Statistically Speaking

Gillespie led the Panthers in rushing, going 59 yards on 17 carries. Austin McDonald had nine carries for 19 yards, Gillespie had three carries for 12 yards, and Howe went four yards on one carry. Crawford had two completions on five pass attempts for 28 yards, and had four carries for 20 yards.

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